Signing Off
by Hostile Hobnob
Summary: A series of oneshots in the form of video journal transcriptions from the crew and family. Completely canon, not in chronological order. No pairings. Rated T for language.
1. Brand, 24

**AN: Hello fandom! This story will be a series of one shots in the form of video logs by all the crew, maybe even TARS. This will never deviate from canon, so I will not attempt to extend the story. Enjoy!**

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><p><em><strong>TARS SYSTEM CATALOG NAME<strong>: Transcript of **Dr. Amelia Brand**'s video journal, **#24**_

_**ADDITIONAL INFORMATION**: Filmed directly after visiting Mann's planet. System comments under the following settings: Honesty level: 95%; Humor: 0%._

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><p><em>[Dr. Brand looks tired, hair mussed, dark circles framing eyes. Her posture is slumped, which occurs in every <strong>322500 **of her vitals checks. I have concluded that Dr. Brand has been "thrown for a loop", as the humans used to say, at the aftermath of Mann's betrayal.]**  
><strong>_

Dr. Amelia Brand, checking in for my twenty fourth video log, just off of Mann's planet. Cooper has already retired for the night, which I would have assumed he would have. Dealing with Mann's mess today would take the life out of anybody. No pun intended.

_[Dr. Brand chuckles at her joke lifelessly before looking down at her hands. It appears that this gesture was not out of mirth, but out of anger, perhaps towards her current predicament. I am not entirely sure my estimation is correct (78%); human mannerisms are confusing and overly complex.]_

So. We lost a brave man today... And we almost lost Cooper. You too TARS.

_[Brand claspes her hands together, and ducks her head] _

I don't believe in God, but I sure as hell was praying to something today. I didn't know we'd make it. I didn't know I'd make it. And god, leaning that we were being sent on a mission, a death mission, and that we were never coming home was just the icing on the cake...

_[Brand punches the air on each word to emphasize this phrase.] _

...of my father's evidentially suicidal and sadistic plan. I just can't believe that he sent me- Cooper as well, of all people- away from him, away from out families never to return again.

_[Brand slams her hand on the console]_

He promised Cooper's family that he'd return. Murph and Tom thought they'd be getting their dad back. I thought I was getting my dad back. It's just... I thought love- his love - was more powerful than that. I see it in Coop, whenever he talks about his kids, or thought about making it home. He would never let them go on a mission fully knowing that that he'd never sthe them again, but give them a false sense of hope that they would.

_[Brand begins to cry, but she wipes her tears away quickly.]_

It just makes me wonder if I was ever more to my father than the future of humanity, you know? And it also makes me think my father was a coward, running away from all of his problems and flawed parenting by plopping me on a ship to save "humanity". His humanity, anyways. That,

_[Brand jacks a thumb in the direction of the cryogenically frozen fertilized at heggs.]_

Is not humanity. The people on earth, the living people who are struggling to survive, building a useless transportation device under my father's deception, and fighting to get to work everyday, that's humanity. Not a test tube full of harvested DNA. I will stand by my position that the eggs are option B for a reason. We're essentially murdering millions of people by not doing our best to get home. I refuse to be a murderer in the name of the human race's "survival" or whatever cover up name my father came up with. After watching Murph's face that day that she was pulled away from her dad, I don't think I could ever separate a child and their parent again, much less let one abandon his family. I don't care that my father may, stretch that, will be dead when we get home; I don't care if we don't ever find a way to keep humans alive. A child needs a parent. Murph and Tom need Cooper. I'll be haunted for the rest of my life if I don't do my damned best to get Cooper home.

_[Brand slumps back in her seat, her short speech sapping what little energy she has left. Heartrate has decreased by 20% since boarding the ship, vitals are at her norm.]_

I guess the thing that bugs me the most about this whole ordeal is that I feel like I'm not helping anybody. I got Doyle killed on the first day because I wouldn't leave that damn computer, Romilly died because I couldn't get to him fast enough and Mann nearly killed Cooper because we believed the loon. I should've known from the moment he came out of cryo that he went insane. That crazed look he had in his eyes is one that I'll never forget. The insanity of his isolation is probably what turned his brain to mush. I'm sort of alone right now, lightyears away from Earth, but I've got Cooper and TARS. I can't imagine being truly alone, with no hope of rescue, on the other side of the universe, hoping that someone will come and save you from something akin to damnation.

_[Brand runs her hand through her hair and rubs her eyes. Bloodshot eyes, noted.]_

I'd just hope that if that was to ever happen to me I'd hold up. I can't imagine becoming Dr. Mann. I don't ever want to become Dr. Mann.

This is Brand, signing off. Goodbye Edmunds, hello Earth.

_[Dr. Brand stands up and walks towards the normal sleep chambers.]_


	2. M Cooper, 1

**NASA TRANSMISSION SERVER CLASSIFICATION: **Cooper, Murphy - Video_msg_1 - to ENDURANCE

**SYSTEM SETTINGS: **100% Honesty, 0% Humour

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><p><em>[ COOPER strides carefully into the room. Her footsteps are heavy, indicating a touch of anger. <em>_She begins filming almost two minutes after occupying the chair in front of the camera. Evidently, pressing record was a struggle for COOPER. ]_

Hello, Dad. I, um, haven't made one of these yet. I regret that I didn't start before you... Before you went dark, but that's a choice I'll have to live with.

_[ COOPER's speech is extremely formal for normal human interaction, indicating a great discomfort. Her eyes begin to well up with tears, but she quickly blinks them back. ]_

Tom says that I should let you go.

_[ COOPER states this after a long pause, seemingly after rigorous mental processes occurred, because there was absolutely no buildup to this thought; it appeared to come out of nowhere. This message, so far, has not been easy for COOPER to record. ]_

Apparently that's what Tom's wife said to him as well. Sometimes I wonder if it's Tom I'm talking to, or his wife. What his wife says is true and what he says is true just becomes jumbled up into one big, turbulent, and indecipherable mess. I feel as if the two of them share a hive-mind; it seems like they don't have a thought different than each other.

_[ She takes a pause, most likely** (98% probability) **thinking on what to say next. ]_

He– or should I say _they _–said I should give up hope. On you, on the mission, on Professor Brand. He's probably right. In all likelihood, this video will be shot out, through space, to nothing, and that you are dead or Professor Brand is a lunatic whose brain has turned to mush and cannot _possibly _be close to solving the gravitational anomaly equation. According to probability, these things are probably all true.

_[ She stops for her routine pause. COOPER seems to have a desire to use words sparingly, but accurately and eloquently when they are. COOPER has logged into her digital journal on multiple accounts before that she, **"enjoys speech correctly, for it gives [her] a sense of security, knowing that [she] appears intelligent and grounded in the world. It masks the multiple insecurities [she] possesses."**_

But, for some incredible reason, I haven't given up hope. I still think you're alive, Dad. In the words of Grandpa, you're too damn stubborn to just go off and die. You made me a promise that you'd come home, and you never break promises.

_[ COOPER's voice cracks, and her eyes begin to fill up with tears again. This time, she wipes them away with her hands instead of blinking them back. ]_

But guess what, Dad? It's my birthday today. And it's a very special day today because I am the same age you are when you left. And... And it-it would be a really nice present if you came home now.

_[ END OF MESSAGE ]_


End file.
